Learn Italian With Songs with these 20 Clean Song Recommendations (Full Translations Included!)

Learn Italian With Songs with these 20 Clean Song Recommendations (Full Translations Included!)
LF Content Team | Updated on 2 February 2023
Learning Italian with songs and song lyrics is a great way to learn Italian! Learning with music is fun, engaging, and includes a cultural aspect that is often missing from other language learning methods. So music and song lyrics are a great way to supplement your learning and stay motivated to keep learning Italian!
These 20 song recommendations are cleans which are still popular today despite being released over a generation ago. So they are great songs that will get you started with learning Italian with music and song lyrics.
CONTENTS SUMMARY
Sarà Perché Ti Amo (It Must Be 'Cause I Love You)
Ricchi e Poveri
Che confusione
Sarà perché ti amo
È un'emozione
Che cresce piano piano
What confusion
It must be 'cause I love you
It's an emotion
That grows slowly slowly

“Sarà Perché Ti Amo” is a sparkling Italian dance-pop anthem that captures the dizzy rush of falling head-over-heels in love. Right from the opening line “Che confusione,” the narrator admits that life feels like a whirlwind, yet blames the sweet turmoil on the person they adore. Heartbeats sync with the song’s upbeat rhythm, spring blooms in the air, and even shooting stars can’t distract from that irresistible pull. The repeated invitation to “stringimi forte” (hold me tight) and “stammi più vicino” (stay closer) turns the track into an energetic embrace where everything outside the couple becomes a playful blur.

Underneath the catchy melody lies a simple, joyful message: when love and music blend, they can lift you above any chaos. The chorus reminds us that one good song is enough to spark “confusione fuori e dentro di te” (confusion outside and inside you), spinning worries away while pushing you “sempre più in alto” (higher and higher). So whether the world tilts off its axis or feels a little “matto” (crazy), Ricchi e Poveri encourage us to sing along, dance it out, and let that shared feeling of love turn every moment into a sky-high celebration.

MARK CHAPMAN (KILLER OF JOHN LENNON)
Måneskin
Nascosto fra la gente
Senza un'identità
Dice che mi ama ma lo so che mente
Rinchiuso in quattro mura
Hidden among the people
Without an identity
He says that he loves me but I know that he's lying
Locked within four walls

“MARK CHAPMAN” is Måneskin’s chilling rock tale about the dark side of idol worship.

Inspired by the real-life murderer of John Lennon, the lyrics paint a portrait of an anonymous stalker who slips through crowds “nascosto fra la gente” (hidden among people) while claiming undying love. The band flips the usual love-song script: this admirer prowls the city, dresses “come un incubo” (like a nightmare), and brandishes a knife when his messages go unanswered. Each catchy riff and urgent beat mirrors the tension between passion and danger, showing how obsession can twist admiration into something violent. The song is both a warning and a thriller, inviting listeners to feel the adrenaline rush of rock while reflecting on the thin line that separates a fan from a fanatic.

L'italiano (Italian)
Toto Cutugno
Lasciatemi cantare
Con la chitarra in mano
Lasciatemi cantare
Sono un italiano
Let me sing
With the guitar in hand
Let me sing
I'm an Italian

**“L’italiano” bursts out like a sunny postcard from Italy, where Toto Cutugno proudly waves the tricolore and invites the whole world to shout Buongiorno Italia! He strings together a colorful collage of instantly recognizable images—spaghetti al dente, caffè ristretto, a chirping canary on the windowsill, Sunday soccer on TV, and even the trusty old Fiat 600 parked outside. With his guitar in hand, Cutugno turns these snapshots into a sing-along celebration of everyday life, tapping into that uniquely Italian mix of joy, style, and a hint of sweet melancholy in Maria’s “eyes full of nostalgia.”

Below the catchy chorus lies a bigger message: identity and pride. Cutugno is not boasting about grand monuments; he is honoring the small rituals and warm traditions that make an “italiano vero” (“a true Italian”). By greeting God, Maria, and the whole country in the same breath, he reminds listeners that belonging is both personal and shared. The song encourages you to strum along, smile at the simple pleasures, and feel proud of wherever you come from—because, as Cutugno shows, national pride can be as comforting and genuine as a slow, heartfelt melody played piano piano.

Un Attimo Di Te (A Moment Of You)
Matteo Bocelli, Sebastian Yatra
Ora vai, senza di me
Non è più tempo di discutere
Tu mi conosci, ho i miei limiti
Ma basta un gesto non nasconderti
Now go, without me
It's no longer time to argue
You know me, I have my limits
But one gesture is enough to not hide from you

Un Attimo Di Te is a shimmering pop ballad that captures the bittersweet moment when love slips from the present into memory. Matteo Bocelli and Sebastián Yatra trade tender lines about realizing too late how vital a partner’s presence was: "Quanto manca il tuo respiro intorno a me" (How much I miss your breath around me). Even though distance now separates them, every thought, every half-remembered smile keeps the loved one vividly alive. The song invites listeners to linger in that attimo—one fleeting instant—where past and present feelings collide.

Amid the longing, the singers radiate gratitude rather than regret. Life moves on and we cannot always choose its twists, yet the chorus insists that genuine affection continues to cast light in the darkest spaces. With lush Italian-Spanish vocals and a soaring melody, Un Attimo Di Te reminds us that love, once felt, never truly leaves; it echoes inside us, turning absence into a delicate, everlasting presence.

E Più Ti Penso (And The More I Think Of You)
Andrea Bocelli, Ariana Grande
E più ti penso, e più mi manchi
Ti vedo coi miei occhi stanchi
Anche io vorrei, stare lì con te
Stringo il cuscino sei qui vicino
And the more I think of you, the more I miss you
I see you with my tired eyes
I would also like to be there with you
I hold the pillow, you're here close

“E Più Ti Penso” is a heartfelt Italian duet where Andrea Bocelli and Ariana Grande paint a vivid picture of intense longing. Each line captures the ache of being apart from someone who feels essential to your very breath. The singers imagine clutching a pillow as if it were their loved one, staring into the night while distance turns the world colorless. With soaring classical vocals and pop warmth, they confess that life loses its sparkle and even the sun seems to hide when the person they love is not near.

As the music swells, the lyrics grow bolder: without the chance to see this person again, they would simply stop living. This dramatic declaration highlights just how total their devotion is. The song blends opera-style emotion with modern accessibility, making the theme of “I miss you so much I cannot exist without you” universally relatable. Listeners are invited to feel every bittersweet note, then carry that passionate Italian spirit into their own language-learning journey.

Bella Ciao (Beautiful Hello)
Banda Bassotti
Stamattina mi sono alzato
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
Stamattina mi sono alzato
E ho trovato l'invasor
This morning I got up
Oh beautiful bye, beautiful bye, beautiful bye bye bye
This morning I got up
And I found the invader

Bella Ciao is more than a catchy chorus—it is a rallying cry that echoes through Italian history. In Banda Bassotti’s energetic alternative take, we wake up at dawn right beside the singer, only to discover that an enemy has invaded. The narrator calls on a brave partigiano (partisan) to whisk him away to the resistance because he feels he might die. Yet the mood is not gloomy; the song’s bright "ciao ciao ciao" pulses with hope, turning fear into courage.

By the second half, the lyrics imagine the singer’s possible death for freedom and describe being buried high in the mountains under a beautiful flower. Passers-by will see that bloom and say, “What a lovely flower!”—a living symbol of every fighter who fell for liberty. In just a few lines, the track ties together sacrifice, nature, and collective memory, making it an enduring anthem for standing up against oppression.

La Noia (The Boredom)
Angelina Mango
Quanti disegni ho fatto
Rimango qui e li guardo
Nessuno prende vita
Questa pagina è pigra
How many drawings I've made
I stay here and look at them
None come to life
This page is lazy

“La Noia” (“Boredom”) turns a familiar feeling into a dancefloor confession. Angelina Mango paints the picture of a restless mind: unfinished sketches stare back from the page, colored beads replace pearls of wisdom, and standing still feels like a slow death. She pokes fun at society’s clichés—business talk, empty compliments, the pressure to always feel “precious”—while admitting that her biggest enemy is the dull ache of routine. Yet instead of sinking into gloom, she crowns herself with metaphorical thorns, cranks up a cumbia rhythm, and throws a party just to keep that boredom at bay.

The song is both a cry and a celebration. Mango repeats “muoio senza morire” (“I die without dying”) to capture how numbing monotony can feel, then flips it on its head: if suffering makes joy sweeter, why not laugh, dance, and risk stumbling? “La Noia” invites listeners to wear their struggles like bold accessories, turn existential ennui into a beat you can’t ignore, and discover that sometimes the only real antidote to boredom is turning up the music and moving anyway.

Caruso
Lucio Dalla
Qui dove il mare luccica
E tira forte il vento
Su una vecchia terrazza
Davanti al golfo di surriento
Here where the sea shines
And the wind blows hard
On an old terrace
In front of the Gulf of Sorrento

Close your eyes and picture this: a windswept terrace above the sparkling Gulf of Sorrento, where the legendary tenor Enrico Caruso spends one of his final evenings. Lucio Dalla’s Caruso turns that image into a cinematic mini-opera. The lyrics move between tender embraces and sweeping memories of nights in America, fusing personal nostalgia with the irresistible pull of the sea. When Caruso sings “Te voglio bene assaje” (“I love you so very much”), love feels like a chain that melts in the bloodstream, freeing every emotion at once.

Beyond the romantic surface, the song is also a meditation on the sheer power of music. Dalla contrasts the carefully staged drama of opera with the raw honesty of two green eyes staring back at you — the moment when words fail and feelings take over. In those seconds the world shrinks, pain softens, and even death seems sweet, so the tenor starts singing again, happier than before. Caruso is both a love letter to Italy’s most famous voice and a reminder that, when melody meets true emotion, time, distance, and even life’s end fade into the background.

Inevitabile (Unavoidable)
Giorgia, Eros Ramazzotti
L'amore poi cos'è
Dammi una definizione
Combinazione chimica
O è fisica attrazione
And then, what is love
Give me a definition
Chemical combination
Or is it physical attraction

Inevitabile pairs Giorgia’s silk-smooth vocals with Eros Ramazzotti’s unmistakable tone to stage a playful yet heartfelt interrogation: what on earth is love? The lyrics bounce between the lab and the dance floor, asking if passion is a chemical equation or sheer physical magnetism. Whatever the formula, the duet concludes that once the spark ignites nothing is hotter, and colliding with it is simply inevitable.

The song paints love as a force that slips past every defense, flips your world inside out, and leaves you both dazzled and dizzy. You can lock your doors, bury your feelings, or try to analyze it, but sooner or later it will burst in, rearrange every part of you, and claim center stage. Giorgia and Eros invite the listener to embrace the ride: let love burn, consume, and liberate, because resisting is futile—and that thrilling surrender is exactly what makes the experience unforgettable.

LA FINE (THE END)
Måneskin
Mi sveglio ed è passato un anno
Ed io che sono ancora stanco
Con la valigia sotto braccio
Non so nemmeno dove vado
I wake up and a year has passed
And I'm still tired
With the suitcase under his arm
I don't even know where I'm going

“La Fine” catapults us into a restless road movie inside Måneskin’s head. The singer wakes up a year older, suitcase in hand, still exhausted and wandering like a “pazzo.” He has tasted the mud, cheap food, insults, and the dizzying high of being treated like a saint one minute and a criminal the next. The chorus warns, “Sappi che non è l’inizio, è la fine” – when the crowd finally adores you, that is not a fresh start but the moment everything begins to crumble. Even the most beautiful rose hides its thorns.

The song is a raw manifesto about refusing false happy endings. Success, money, and approval feel empty, so the only escape is to break from the pack, dig until your fingers bleed, and choose whether to leave or rot. Between pounding guitars and urgent vocals, Måneskin urges us to stop drifting “where the wind blows,” find our own light before it all goes dark, and keep running until we discover a reason worth living for. In short, “La Fine” turns the glamor of rock stardom inside out and shouts that real freedom often begins right at the edge of the end.

Farfalle (Butterflies)
sangiovanni
Hai una casa un po' piccola
Sembra fatta per te
È diventata la nostra
Da quando hai appiccicato
You have a house, a bit small
It seems made for you
It has become ours
Since you stuck

"Farfalle" is a feel-good dance anthem that captures the dizzy mix of tenderness and euphoria you feel when someone special becomes your whole world. Sangiovanni paints the picture of a tiny apartment that has magically turned into their universe: photos stuck on the fridge, blinds pulled down, city lights outside, and the two of them wrapped in each other’s arms. He admits he has “lost his head” and even the usual farfalle (butterflies) are missing, yet this new love is much more than a fluttery crush – it is an oxygen boost that lets him breathe freely and dream bigger than ever.

Throughout the track he asks for “two wings to fly,” celebrating how his partner lifts him above life’s toxic noise and industrial grind. While neon lights flash and the dance beat pulses, the message is sweetly simple: in a crowded world, finding the one person who makes you feel weightless is pure magic. Get ready to dance, smile, and maybe stick your own memories on the fridge as Farfalle reminds you how liberating love can be.

Vivere Ancora (To Live Again)
Gino Paoli
Vivere ancora soltanto per un'ora
E per un'ora averti tra le braccia
E far sparire per sempre dal tuo viso
Ogni incertezza che ti tormenta ancora
To live again just for an hour
And for an hour to have you in my arms
And making disappear forever from your face
Every uncertainty that still torments you

“Vivere Ancora” – which literally means “To Live Again” – is Gino Paoli’s heartfelt wish to stop the clock for just one magical hour. In this pop ballad, the legendary Italian singer imagines squeezing a whole lifetime of tenderness into those sixty golden minutes: holding his lover close, wiping away every shadow of doubt, and seeing her face light up with the love he has always hoped to give. The song pulses with a sense of urgency, yet it is wrapped in dreamy intimacy, inviting listeners to picture a room where time pauses and emotions glow brighter than daylight.

Dig a little deeper and you will find a beautiful surrender: Paoli paints love as the moment when two destinies melt into one. He dreams of greeting the sunrise still locked in an embrace, eyes wide open, hearts fully exposed. The gentle images – fingers brushing loose hair on a pillow, silent promises exchanged in the dark – turn “Vivere Ancora” into an ode to love so complete that living, breathing, and even fate itself become a shared experience. Listening to this song is like pressing pause on the world and hitting play on pure romance.

Come Vorrei (How I Would Like)
Ricchi e Poveri
Ci sono giorni in cui non dormo e penso a te
Sto chiuso in casa col silenzio per amico
Mentre la neve dietro ai vetri scende giù
Ti aspetto qui
There are days in which I don't sleep and I think of you
I'm locked in the house with silence as my friend
While the snow falls down behind the glass
I wait for you here

Picture a quiet Italian winter night: snow slides down the windowpane, the house is hushed, and the only companion is the crackling fireplace. In Come Vorrei, Ricchi e Poveri turn this cozy setting into a bittersweet confessional. The singer waits restlessly for a lost love, replaying memories of last year’s Christmas when everything felt warm and complete. Now, even the moon refuses to keep him company, and the holiday lights seem dimmer without the person who once made them shine.

At its heart, the song is a tender plea: “How I wish you loved me in my own way.” The lyrics move between hope and heartbreak, comparing love to snow that could either blanket everything in beauty or melt away under the first ray of sun. It captures that familiar tug-of-war between wanting to hold on and fearing jealousy, between longing for a fresh start and sensing the end. Both nostalgic and relatable, Come Vorrei wraps universal feelings of longing, regret, and fragile hope in a catchy pop melody that has made it an enduring Italian classic.

Morirò Da Re (I Will Die As King)
Måneskin
Hey, it's Måneskin, yeah
E allora prendi la mia mano, bella señorita
Disegniamo sopra il mondo con una matita
Resteremo appesi al treno solo con le dita
Hey, it's Måneskin, yeah
So take my hand, beautiful señorita
Let's draw over the world with a pencil
We'll hang onto the train with just our fingers

“Morirò Da Re” is Måneskin’s fiery rock anthem about grabbing the hand of someone you love and sprinting toward freedom, no matter how steep the climb. The singer invites his bella señorita to pack her suitcase, put on fishnet stockings, and paint the gray night with their own colors. Together they will hang from the speeding train of life “only with their fingers,” facing exhaustion and adversaries yet promising to fall on their feet. In this reckless road-movie of a song, the chorus roars: “Accanto a te, io morirò da re”“Beside you, I’ll die a king.” Love turns every risk into a royal adventure.

Marlena, the mysterious muse, embodies beauty, truth, and fearless self-expression. The band urges her to “open the sail” and “travel light,” stripping away anything inessential while showing the world her radiance. Through Marlena, Måneskin celebrates liberation from judgment and the courage to seize everything that feels right. In short, the song is a rallying cry: cling to your dreams, fight the pack, and reign over your own life – because next to the one who sets your soul on fire, even the hardest journey feels victorious.

L'altra Dimensione (The Other Dimension)
Måneskin
E adesso giuro faccio le valigie
E scappo via in un'altra dimensione
Son stanco delle vostre facce grigie
Voglio un mondo rosa pieno di colore
And now I swear, I pack my bags
And I escape to another dimension
I'm tired of your gray faces
I want a pink world full of color

Tired of the greyness around him, the singer packs his bags and blasts off “in un’altra dimensione”—a bright, pink-colored world where routine and fake love paid with credit cards have no place. At the heart of this escape stands Marlena, Måneskin’s recurring muse who embodies freedom, rebellion, and pure passion. Inviting her to dance, he seeks a life so vivid that even scars and worries melt away in the rhythm of il ballo della vita (the dance of life).

Much more than a love song, “L’altra Dimensione” is an anthem of rebirth. Like a phoenix, the narrator rises from the dust, urging friends and listeners alike to be happy because a “new world” is on its way. By following Marlena onto the dance floor, we learn to fight, to dream, and to color our own reality—one unstoppable beat at a time.

Sinceramente (Sincerely)
Annalisa
Mi sveglio ed è passata solo un'ora
Non mi addormenterò
Ancora otto lune nere e tu la nona
E forse me lo merito
I wake up and only an hour has passed
I won't fall asleep
Eight more dark moons and you the ninth
And maybe I deserve it

Sinceramente is a glittery pop confession booth where Annalisa lets us peek at a love that feels like a roller-coaster in the dark. One minute she is wide-awake after only an hour of sleep, the next she is counting “eight black moons and you the ninth”, already hinting that the relationship is heavy, cosmic and a little bit cursed. The Italian singer wrestles with two kinds of truth – the blunt, raw one and the prettified, poetic one – and lands somewhere in the middle, trembling between wanting to run away and craving the dramatic rush of it all. Crying becomes almost cathartic: it hurts “like dying, but it doesn’t happen”, yet she admits she even likes those teary moments because they prove she is still alive and choosing herself instead of sliding into self-destruction.

By the time the chorus hits, she is taking “one step forward and one back” as if standing on the platform and watching the emotional train whoosh by. Her partner flicks cigarettes on blue velvet, pushes her underwater, then pulls her back up, and she still signs every message “Sincerely yours”. That tiny phrase is her ironic mic-drop: yes, the words sound sweet, but they hide raw cuts, empty spaces and moonlit scars. In the end, the song is a sparkling anthem for anyone who has ever been stuck in a magnetic, messy love, trying to tell the real truth while keeping their own heart beating loud and clear.

'O Sole Mio (My Sun [Neapolitan])
Il Volo
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole
N'aria serena doppo na tempesta
Pe'll'aria fresca pare gia' na festa
Che bella cosa na jurnata 'e sole
What a beautiful thing a sunny day
The calm air after the storm
The fresh air already feels like a celebration
What a beautiful thing a sunny day

"'O Sole Mio" paints a picture of a perfect sunny day in Naples: blue skies after a storm, fresh air that feels like a street party, and a golden sun that makes everything sparkle. The singer revels in this beauty but quickly reveals an even brighter source of light. You, the beloved, outshine the literal sun; your presence warms his world and chases away the melancholy that creeps in when evening falls.

By comparing a lover to the mighty Italian sunshine, Il Volo turns a simple weather report into a heartfelt declaration of love. The repeated line "'O sole mio sta 'nfronte a te" (“my sun is in front of you”) reminds us that true radiance comes from human connection, not the sky above. It is a joyful, romantic anthem that celebrates how love can transform an ordinary day into a timeless Neapolitan festa.

Le Parole Lontane (The Distant Words)
Måneskin
Come l'aria mi respirerai
Il giorno che
Ti nasconderò dentro frasi che
Non sentirai
Like the air you'll breathe me
The day that
I'll hide you in phrases that
You won't hear

Turn up the volume and dive into pure Italian passion! In Le Parole Lontane (which translates to The Distant Words), Måneskin wrap raw rock energy around a heart-tugging confession. The singer feels his lover drifting away, so far that even his most desperate shouts seem to vanish into the wind. Images of salty tears, crashing waves and an icy winter paint the scene of a relationship on the edge, where every unspoken phrase stings like cold air in the lungs.

Yet this is no simple breakup song. It is a plea for rescue and a vow of eternal devotion all at once: “Bevo le lacrime amare” (I drink bitter tears) shows the pain, while the recurrent call to Marlena—the band’s mythical muse—reminds us of the hope that rock music can still save the day. Listening, you will feel the urgency to shout out the words you have been hiding, before they too become parole lontane.

Voglio Ballare Con Te (I Want To Dance With You)
Baby K, Dvicio
Faccio un tuffo sotto il sole
Fa già un caldo che si muore
Questa estate non si dorme
Me la bevo come un cocktail
I do a dive under the sun
It's already a heat that kills
This summer we don't sleep
I drink it like a cocktail

Picture a sun-drenched beach where the heat shimmers, cocktails replace worries, and your headphones launch you into holiday mode. Voglio Ballare Con Te is Baby K’s invitation to dive head-first into summer: skip the sleep, chase the stars, and let the pulsing pop beat turn every umbrella and wave into part of the dance floor. From beers with lemon to spontaneous road trips that end in dawn’s first colors, the lyrics celebrate carefree adventure and the thrill of being young, wild, and wonderfully unplanned.

Yet beneath the glitter of seaside nights lies a simple wish: "Voglio ballare con te" – "I want to dance with you." More than a party anthem, the song is about choosing one special partner to share the magic with, leaving past problems and future doubts in the sand until at least September. It captures that fleeting, euphoric moment when music, romance, and sunrise blend, reminding us that sometimes all we need is one dance to make a whole summer unforgettable.

Una Lunga Storia D'amore (A Long Love Story)
Gino Paoli
Quando t'ho vista arrivare
Bella così come sei
Non mi sembrava possibile che
Tra tanta gente che tu ti accorgessi di me
When I saw you arriving
Beautiful as you are
It didn't seem possible to me that
Among so many people that you would notice me

**“Una Lunga Storia D’amore” paints the rush of a “love at first sight” moment that instantly feels older than time itself. The singer is dazzled when the beautiful stranger notices him in a crowd, describing the sensation as if he were suddenly flying inside his own room, or dreaming inside her dream. That magical recognition gives him the strange certainty that he has always known her—even though their love is brand-new.

Yet even in the glow of this discovery, reality taps on the shoulder. He begs her to pretend she will never leave, confessing that every long story of love must eventually reach its final page. The song balances that sweet urgency: “It’s already late,” he admits, “but it’s still early if you go now.” By repeating this paradox, Paoli captures the bittersweet truth that time feels both endless and fleeting whenever we want a tender moment to last forever. The result is a gentle, melodic reminder to savor love, even while knowing it can’t be stopped by the clock.

We have more songs with translations on our website and mobile app. You can find the links to the website and our mobile app below. We hope you enjoy learning Italian with music!